Civil and Environmental Engineering

Melis joined the University of Edinburgh in April 2024. Her research mainly focuses on how geostructures can contribute to the sustainability of human activities and resilience to future climate change and energy-related challenges. Her research activities span across a range of topics including in-situ and laboratory testing of soils and soil-structure interfaces in isothermal and non-isothermal conditions, as well as development of numerical tools for the analysis and design of geostructures. During her PhD at Virginia Tech (USA) and her postdoc at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland), she worked on Energy Geostructures Technology, which is an innovative way of using renewable energy resources by combining geothermal heat exchange and structural foundation support. Her PhD research received several awards by USUCGER, Geo-Institute and ADSC. For her postdoctoral contributions to EPFL, she was awarded “Recognition for Exceptional Services”. She recently received the Bright Sparkle Award 2023 from the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University – Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering, August 2016, Virginia, USA
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University – M.Sc. in Geotechnical Engineering, January 2012, Virginia, USA
• Bogazici University – B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, May 2010, Istanbul, Turkey

• Member of the EPSRC Peer Review College
• Member of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Talent Peer Review College
• Member of the Technical Committee on Energy Geotechnics (TC308) of International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)
• Member of the International Energy Agency Working Group 14 (Geothermal Heating and Cooling Energy)
• Member of the Cost Action CA21156 - european network for FOstering Large-scale ImplementAtion of energy GEostructure (FOLIAGE)
• Advisory Board Member of the Journal of Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment

Geotechnical Engineering 2

Professor Pankaj obtained his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, masters from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and PhD from University of Wales Swansea. He is the Deputy Head of the Institute for Bioengineering at Edinburgh University. He established and leads the Edinburgh Computational Biomechanics research group. He has research collaborations with universities around the globe and his research has been supported by international organisations, the industry and UK funding councils.

In his role as International Dean for South Asia he provides leadership in the development of a strategy to shape activities, partnerships and priorities to enhance the University’s engagement with the region.

Research supervised by him has received a number of awards:

• Best PhD thesis in In silico Medicine awarded by Virtual Physiological Human institute (VPHi) (Belgium) to PhD student F. Levrero-Florencio (2018)
• DePuy Best Medical Engineering PhD, runners-up prize awarded by Institution of Mechanical Engineers (UK) to PhD student F. Levrero-Florencio (2018).
• British Orthopaedic Research Society's International Travelling Research Fellowship for Young Investigators awarded to Alisdair MacLeod for his PhD research (2016).
• Best presentation award from the Scottish Committee for Orthopaedics and Trauma at their annual meeting to MD student C Scott (2015).
• British Orthopaedic Association's Hip and Knee Reconstruction Fellowship awarded to MD student C Scott (2015).
• Best Poster Award at the 2016 British Orthopaedic Research Society Meeting, for the study entitled \the changing microarchitecture of trabecular bone with high strain" (authors: Wallace, Manda, Sales, Simpson and Pankaj).
• IMechE/Vicon prize for the best Medical Engineering Project awarded to MD student C Scott (2013).
• Best Paper Award at the 2011 International Conference of Systems Biology and Bioengineering for the paper entitled “Computational Modelling of Magnetic Resonance Elastography Shear Wave Behaviour through Atherosclerotic Plaque with Disease Development" (authors: Thomas-Seale, Pankaj, Hoskins and Roberts).
• Robertson Medal for the best research proposal from Carnegie Trust awarded to PhD student FE Donaldson (2008).
• IMechE/Orthopaedic Research UK award for the best thesis in Medical Engineering awarded to PhD student ATM Phillips (2007).

• PhD University of Wales Swansea
• ME Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
• BTech Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

• Finite Element Methods for Solids and Structures
• Structural Mechanics 2B
• Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering

• Mathematical Simulation of the Mechanical Behaviour of Materials
• Solid Mechanics
• Orthopaedic Engineering
• Computational Biomechanics
• Finite Element Analysis
• Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering

• Dean International (South Asia) for The University of Edinburgh
• Deputy Head of the Institute for Bioengineering, School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh

Rory Hadden holds a Personal Chair in Fire Science. Previously he was the Rushbrook Senior Lecturer in Fire Investigation. Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh he held positions at University of Western Ontario and Imperial College London. 

His research interests include pyrolysis, ignition, flammability and flame spread with application to the built and natural environments. Rory specialises in experimental work ranging from laboratory scale studies to field scale measurements of fire phenomena with novel sensing methods.

Fire Safety Engineering 3 

Fire Science and Fire Dynamics 4

Fire Science Lab

• Material flammability.
• Flame spread.
• Fire emissions.
• Wildfire ignition, spread, emissions and risk assessment.
• Fire investigation.

I am always interested to talk to anyone with an interest in fire science, fire engineering and how we understand fires and their impacts. Feel free to get in touch.

Tom has been Chancellor's Fellow and Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Edinburgh since June 2017. Previously, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Universities of Bath and Cambridge, and in engineering consultancy with White Young Green and Adams Kara Taylor, involved in civil and structural engineering design for projects ranging from a new sea lock in Swansea to the Masdar Institute building with Foster and Partners in Abu Dhabi. He studied for his PhD at the University of Bath in the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials. He then worked as Postdoctoral Research Associate on the Leverhulme Trust sponsored Natural Material Innovation project at the University of Cambridge. Tom has been a chartered member of the Institution of Civil Engineers since 2010.

MEng Engineering Science (First Class), University of Oxford 2005

PhD University of Bath 2013

PGCert Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, University of Cambridge 2017

Tom has been a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers since 2010

Tom teaching structural mechanics, engineering materials, and design courses.

I am a Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering. I spent years working as researcher, engineer and university academic in Malaysia and Japan before joining Edinburgh. I have amassed good experience in research and application in the fields of structures and construction materials, with specific focuses in structural repair and retrofit, low carbon cementitious materials, condition monitoring and non-destructive evaluation of structures. 

BEng(Hons) in Civil Engieering (Universiti Sains Malaysia) MEngSc in Concrete Materials (Universiti Malaya) PhD in Civil Engineering (Osaka University)

• Chartered Member of Institution of Structural Engineers
• Fellow of Higher Education Academy
• Senior Member of International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures (RILEM) 
• Member of British Institute of Non-destructive Testing "Civil Engineering Group"
• Graduate Member of Board of Engineers Malaysia

• Detailed Design of Structures 3 CIVE09029 - Lecturer
• Structural Design Philosophy 3 CIVE09033 - Course Organiser and Lecturer
• Plastic Analysis of Frames and Slabs CIVE10003 - Course Organiser and Lecturer
• Concrete Structures 4 CIVE10029 - Course Organiser and Lecturer
• Interdisciplinary Group Design Project (Engineering) SCEE11010 - Lecturer
• Interdisciplinary Group Design Project 4 SCEE11014 - Course organiser and Lecturer

• Reinforced concrete structures modelling, analysis and design
• Acoustic emission monitoring and data analysis
• Low carbon cementitious composite materials development
• Elastic wave tomography development and implementation
• Structural appraisal, strengthening and retrofit

Accepting PhD projects.